Friday 2 February 2018

Free at FindMyPast: all Irish/UK census and bmd records, and the new Suffragette Collection

http://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=5947&awinaffid=123532&clickref=&p=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.findmypast.ie%2Fsuffragettes%2F
To mark the 100th anniversary of the 1918 Representation of the People Act (the act giving property-owning women and female graduates over the age of 30 the right to vote for the first time in history) FindMyPast has created a new collection called The Suffragette Collection.

It contains more than 3,000 Metropolitan and Home Office records, many appearing online for the first time. The records, digitised from originals held at The National Archives in Kew, tell the stories of individuals from all classes who actively fought for women’s suffrage, and reveal the struggles endured by the movement’s most ardent supporters.

Researchers can expect to find photographs, cabinet office papers, calendars of prisoners and Home Office papers on suffragette disturbances and prosecutions. The collection also includes an index of women arrested between 1906 and 1914, the official police watch list recording the details of over 1,300 militant suffragettes, reports of prison conditions, force-feeding, police surveillance and much more.

This new collection will be completely free to search and explore until International Women’s Day on Thursday 8 March, allowing family historians to explore their connection to this pivotal period of British and Irish history.

In addition, all UK and Irish census records and civil BMDs will be free via FindMyPast.ie and FindMyPast.co.uk until 11:59pm on Thursday 8 February, allowing researchers to learn more about the lives of their female ancestors.

If you don't already have one, you'll need to register with one of the sites. This is free and does not require you to provide your financial details.